Verstappen tops qualifying, Sainz inherits pole

The defending champion elected not to take part in the final shootout in Q3, knowing he will start from the back of the grid owing to a drop for exceeding his permitted parts count.

Nevertheless, his banker lap was so emphatic that he topped the session by six tenths of a second as a sloppy Sainz final flying lap meant the Spaniard failed to improve at the death.

Sergio Perez will join the Ferrari on the front row of the grid, while Leclerc will meet Verstappen as the pair are poised to line up in 13th and 14th.

Verstappen was a class apart after the first round of flying laps in the climax to qualifying, the Dutch ace romping to a 1m43.665s – the sole sub 1m44s lap of the weekend.

That gave him a mighty 0.632s in hand over Sainz, while Perez was third and another two tenths back before his lap was flagged for exceeding track limits at Raidillon.

Leclerc, meanwhile, was fourth, having been initially sent out on a set of scrubbed softs.

While both Alpines, Mercedes, Lando Norris and Alex Albon were also released on used rubber, Ferrari admitted over team radio this was a mistake.

Team boss Mattia Binotto even appeared to intimate pointing a gun to his head on the pit wall after Leclerc crossed the line.

Leclerc then dived back out of the pits after his sole effort to just pick up Sainz out of La Source and tow his team-mate down the long Kemmel Straight.

But the tactics proved in vain as Sainz missed his personal best first sector before clipping the gravel through Les Fanges to wind up on a 1m44.714s and duly failing to improve.

That left his earlier 1m44.297s as his best effort, however the British GP winner has no penalties to carry over to the grid and will line up on first.

Perez similarly failed to improve at his second attempt, while Esteban Ocon (also destined to be sent to the back of the grid) pipped Alpine team-mate Fernando Alonso for a team 5-6 result.

Lewis Hamilton led George Russell for seventh and eighth, the W13s running some 1.8s off Verstappen.

Mercedes appears to be on the back foot for what might have been its best shot at a race win in 2022 given Verstappen and Leclerc’s reprimand.

Albon starred in Q3 as Williams made its straight-line speed count in the opening sector (Albon running fastest of everyone), as the Thai-Brit clocked ninth and is poised to line up in sixth.

Norris, meanwhile, opted against a second flying lap and was 10th in Q3, but he too has penalties to…